Paying Attention in God’s Word

“Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18).

How often do I open God’s Word and read it and “behold wondrous things?” Almost every time I read I see something wondrous in Scripture. The question we should ask is, “Why don’t I behold something wondrous every time?” Is it really possible we can open the God-breathed Word of our Father (1 Tim 3:16) and not find something wondrous there? Then why don’t we see it?

The beginning of this answer is in verse 17, “Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live and keep your word.” To behold wondrous things in God’s law is God dealing bountifully with us. So why would God not deal bountifully with us each time we open the Bible? Can God deal bountifully with someone who has unconfessed, unrepentant sin in their life? If I come to God’s Word with sin I have not confessed and repented of, then I open the Bible and read it, should I be surprised the words fall upon my mind, heart and soul with an icy coldness of indifference? God will convict us of our unconfessed sin when we read His Word, but He will not deal bountifully with us to behold wondrous things out of His law.

The other reason we may not always see something wondrous every time we read Scripture is our carelessness. In 1 Kings 19 we are told of the prophet Elijah meeting God at the opening of a cave. Four different environmental events occur and God is only in one of them. First is the powerful wind that can split rocks, then an earthquake, then a fire, and finally the sound of a soft whisper. God was not in the wind, earthquake or the fire, but only in the soft whisper. If God was only in a soft whisper with Elijah, where might he be with us? In the soft whisper of his word.

Perhaps when we read the Bible and do not behold something wondrous it is because we are in the whirlwind of activity. Maybe we are in the earthquake of rumbling and noisy distractions. Maybe we are in the consuming fire of preoccupation. Perhaps God is speaking in the soft whisper of His written word and we will only behold something wondrous if we are concentrating enough to hear His whisper. Why might God be so restrained in his communication to require our undivided attention? Because he will not share our devotion and His attention with anyone or anything, “I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols” (Isaiah 42:8).

Therefore, let us each and everyone cast away all that distracts us or will compete with God for our attention and listening ear when we open His word. Then let us each and everyone expect to behold something wondrous out of His law.

Just a few days after my meditating on this verse, Dr. Albert Mohler wrote a timely and penetrative article on distractions and attentiveness in our modern culture. You can read it at the link below.
http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=1155

The Value of Scripture Memory

“I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11).

Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Most everyone has heard this phrase used numerous times in their lives, especially if they are holding a speeding ticket in their hand because the speed limit changed and you did not notice it. In Psalm 119:11 we see the same principle at work. Ignorance will not suffice as an excuse for not obeying God’s law. We have God’s expectations for us in our hands. If we choose not to look at it we are still responsible for its contents. Temptations to sin against God are not excused away by ignorance of God’s expectations. John Calvin said about this verse in his commentary on Psalms,

“This psalm not being composed for the personal and peculiar use of the author only, we may therefore understand, that as frequently as David sets before us his own example, under this model he points out the course we ought to pursue. Here we are informed that we are well fortified against the stratagems of Satan when God’s law is deeply seated in our hearts. For unless it have a fast and firm hold there, we will readily fall into sin. Among scholars, those whose knowledge is confined to books, if they have not the book always before them, readily discover their ignorance; in like manner, if we do not imbibe the doctrine of God, and are well acquainted with it, Satan will easily surprise and entangle us in his meshes. Our true safeguard, then, lies not in a slender knowledge of his law, or in a careless perusal of it, but in hiding it deeply in our hearts. Here we are reminded, that however men may be convinced of their own wisdom, they are yet destitute of all right judgment, except as far as they have God as their teacher.”

All of what Calvin said is true, still, I think a more positive attitude is driving the Psalmist in making this confession, and for us exhortation. I desire to please my wife, one of the ways I do that is I have forced my mind to remember items, either concrete or abstract, that matter to her which are not particularly important to me. Because I love her I have hidden her interest in my heart so I might be able to please her. I think the same is occurring here.

The Psalmist is storing God’s Word in his heart so he will not sin against God, not only because of the pragmatic nature of not facing judgment, but also because he desires to please God by obeying God. You cannot please God with your actions and thoughts unless you know what God’s desires are. Storing them in our hearts is the mechanism that makes it possible for us to know what will please God with our thoughts and actions at any given moment.

Yet there is more than just knowing how to please God here. When we store God’s Word in our hearts we are conforming our heart and mind to the heart and mind of God. One of our desires is to become like Christ and God the Father. We are to be progressively growing in Godliness, this means we will grow into men and women who think like God and Christ. The only way we can know what God thinks, and change our hearts and minds to think and believe as He thinks and believes, is to store God’s Word in both our hearts and our minds.

So out of love and a desire to please God let us say and do as Calvin, let us “imbibe the doctrine of God” and hide “it deeply in our hearts.”

The Goal of Psalm 119

This sumer I am meditating on Psalm 119. Each week I will post a meditation from this important and large Psalm, Psalm 119 is the largest chapter in the Bible.

“With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!” (Psalm 119:10)
All throughout this psalm the idea of God’s Word is brought up over and over. In just the first sixteen verses a reference is made to God’s Word in every verse. The emphasis over and over is knowing God’s Word so that the psalmist may obey God and fulfill his law. How though can anyone perfectly keep God’s law? (vs 1) Or, seek God with his whole heart? No one can. That is no one except Christ.

Christ is the only human who has ever completely kept God’s law. That is why he is the only ultimate fulfillment of this psalm. It is also why he is the only acceptable substitute for our sins. We can look to our redeemer, not only as our redeemer, but as the perfect fulfillment and model of living out Psalm 119. Recognizing this brings us into a very important understanding of our motivation for fulfilling Psalm 119 in our individual and corporate lives.

Unlike those living before Christ or unbelievers since Christ, we are not condemned by the law as believers in Jesus Christ. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross breaks the condemning power of the law over us. Instead of looking to God’s Word as an impossible standard to keep, we now look to it as the guide to living a life that is pleasing to God because we are under the saving grace of Christ’s work on the Cross and we are recreated creatures living in the power of the Holy Spirit (2 Cor 5:17). Of course we will not keep the law perfectly because we are still fallen humans with a sin nature. However, instead of our sins condemning us to an eternal separation from God, we are able to be reconciled to God and be forgiven of our sins through Christ’s death on the Cross.

This then is our motivation for knowing God’s Word and obeying it: that we, as adopted children, may please our heavenly Father. We obey, not attempting to earn His love through our obedience, but to show our love to Him through our obedience. So let us with David say and do, “With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!”

Short Report on My Mission Trip

I returned home from West Africa almost a week ago at 1:30 am on Sunday April 13, 2008. I arrived with a cold, by Sunday afternoon the cold had become bronchitis, so I was down for the first half of the week. This is why I am so late in getting a message to everyone about my return and how the trip went. I am feeling much better now.

The mission trip to West Africa was excellent! God poured out his Spirit in every way. It would take too long to list all that we saw God do during our week there, so I will give only a few highlights.

We were in the country of Niger working with IMB missionaries Brad & Sally Womble. For the safety of the believers where we worked I will not use the actual village name or any individual’s name.

First, as Amy emailed many of you during the middle of my trip, God blessed us with seeing fruit from our labors right away. We spent the whole week in the village of Dayton. God just did a special work there in pulling back the darkness that has hung over that village and allowing his light to shine in for one full week. On the very first day, in the first hour, at the first presentation of the gospel we made in Dayton a man named Alfred came up and said, “I want to become a follower of Jesus. Can you show me how?” In this region the culture is Muslim with a strong adherence to the spirit worship of the past. Being a Christian is a difficult life choice and inevitably leads to societal and economic persecution. In this village before we arrived there were only 4 believers, 3 of which were baptized, so adding even one believer was a huge event. Alfred began attending the discipleship class that day and never missed a session.

Each day two teams of 4 went out and did evangelism in the village, while two others stayed at the home of Brazilian missionaries living in the village holding a discipleship class for the believers of the village. At the beginning of the first day 5 people were at the discipleship class, by the end of the first day there were 8. On the second day the 8 returned and by the end of the second day there were 13. Those numbers may not sound significant, but the missionaries were not sure if anyone would come any of the 5 days we held the class before we started. Because of working in the field and other needs the numbers dropped off toward the end of the week, but we still maintained a solid core of 8-10.

Dayton was a place of deep dark evil just a year ago. It took 6 years to get permission from the Chief to come into the village and teach about Jesus. Even then opposition and resistance were strong. We were told more than once that you could “feel the evil around you when walked the streets of Dayton.” When we walked the streets every hundred yards or so we would see dead chickens with their heads cut-off, but still having all their parts and feathers attached. This is an impoverished area with a high degree of malnutrition and starvation. We were constantly being asked for food. The people of Dayton are far too hungry to kill chickens and just throw them in the streets. These chickens had been animal sacrifices in spirit worship. Despite their hunger individuals would not touch them for fear of reprisals by the evil spirits they sacrificed to. This is to give you a picture of the spiritual state of Dayton.

Understanding the Spiritual nature of Dayton is important to understand my next statement. Each of our teams the whole time were in Dayton never faced any opposition or resistance in our presenting the story of the Bible and Jesus. In fact the residents were very attentive and listened eagerly. We were told that normally as you began to tell the biblical story the crowd would diminish and loose interest. In our case, the crowds listened attentively and always got bigger! Most of the time we would find a small group of 5-8 people and begin to tell them the story of the Bible, by the time we finished the group would be 25-30. On the last day I was doing Bible storying our last group swelled to around 50 people. It was like this the whole week. Our translators, who are very experienced in this kind of work and in this village, were amazed as well as the missionaries.

The highest highlight of our trip was holding a baptism at the end of the week. On our last day in Dayton Alfred and a woman who had come to faith a few weeks earlier named Susan, decided to be baptized. So in the yard of the Brazilians a pit was dug, then black plastic was laid in it to hold the water. The night before the Brazilians and some others spent two hours hauling water from the village well to have enough to baptize Alfred and Sally. We saw Alfred come to faith on our first day in the village and baptized on our last day there.
It is important to understand that baptism in that culture is a huge line in the sand. Alfred and Susan were already receiving persecution before by simply becoming Christians. However, when you are baptized the gloves come-off and the persecution becomes even more intense. So Susan and Alfred’s act was far more significant than most of us can comprehend here in America.

There is so much more I could share. Each day had an amazing occurrence of its own. Notice also that I have not mentioned anything about my own personal experiences and how I was affected nor any of our team. I suppose it would take a small book to recount all that happened in Niger.

Don’t Let Your Bible Reading Turn Into Visual Muzak

“But his delight is in the law of the LORD and on his law he meditates day and night” (Psa 1:2).

Do you know what “muzak” is? It is the music that you hear and becomes so familiar to you that you don’t pay attention to it, it is just background music. The best example of muzak is elevator music. It is playing while you ride the elevator but you don’t even hear it. We can let our Bible reading turn into visual muzak.

We start to read a passage that we are very familiar with and because we know what is coming we start to think of other things. Our minds drift and before we know it the words of Scripture are just background noise in our minds. In our fast paced “hurry-up and get to the next thing” world falling into this trap is easy. How do we avoid this trap?

We have to be intentional to keep from letting our Bible reading becoming muzak. First, we take a moment, as we open our Bibles, to set our mind on hearing God speak. The Bible is God speaking to us. Mentally we should set our attention on hearing Him as if we were reading a letter from a friend.

Second, when we get to passage we are familiar with, one were we are tempted to start drifting mentally, we should read it differently. We could read it out loud. The act of speaking a passage out loud focuses our attention on the words differently than when we read silently. If we are physically in a situation where reading the passage out loud is not feasible, then read it silently focusing on the punctuation. Physically pause at commas, take longer pauses at semicolons and colon, and come to a complete rest at periods. If the sentence has an exclamation mark reread it with the emphasis of an exclamation mark.

Thirdly we can pray through the passage. This is more difficult with narrative Scripture like OT history or the gospels, but even with these we can form a prayer from the main point of the narrative. For example in Mark 5:1-20 we have the account of Jesus and the demon possessed man. From just a quick reading of this passage we see that Jesus has authority over demons and evil spirits. We can pray thanking God that he gave Jesus authority over devils and evil spirits. A more purposeful reading of the passage would uncover other truths from this event in Jesus’ life, like we are supposed to go and tell others what Christ has done for us, 5:19-20. If you would like another example of praying through Scripture go to the blog immediately after this one on Personalizing Isaiah 53.

Our strength and closeness to Christ in our daily walk is directly tied to the intake of Scripture. Don’t let Satan and his minions use the fast paced life you live as a tool for separating you from your Lord by letting Scripture reading become muzak. Bring your Bible reading to the forefront of your attention.

Personalizing Isaiah 53

“Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. . . . But of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:4-6, 11-12).

When we read passages about Christ’s suffering and paying the penalty for our sins it is often easy to distant ourselves from those words. “Jesus paid the penalty for peoples sins.” We can fool ourselves into seeing us individually as not the causes of his suffering but a generic group which we are part of but at a distant. Such an attitude results in our emotionally and psychologically separating Jesus’ suffering from any responsibility on our part. When this attitude develops in our minds we need to personalize the suffering of Christ to bring us back to the reality he suffered for us. Take the passage above from Isaiah 53:4-6, and 11-12, take the words “he” and “him” and substitute “Jesus” or “Christ”; where “our”, “their”, or “they” occur substitute “my” or “mine”; where “I” occurs substitute “God”. Now it reads like this.

“Surely Jesus has borne my griefs and carried my sorrows; yet I esteemed Christ stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But Jesus was wounded for my transgressions; he was crushed for my iniquities; upon Christ was the chastisement that brought me peace, and with Christ’s stripes I am healed. Like sheep I have gone astray; I have turned to my own way; and the LORD has laid on Christ all my iniquity. . . . Out of the anguish of Jesus’ soul he shall see and be satisfied; by Christ’s knowledge shall the righteous one, God’s servant, make me to be accounted righteous, and Jesus shall bear my iniquities. Therefore God will divide Jesus a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because Jesus poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet Christ bore my sin, and makes intercession for a transgressors, like me.”

You cannot get away from the gravity of your (my) sin that caused Christ’s suffering when Isaiah 54 becomes this personal. Nor can you (I) escape the beauty and depth of Christ’s love and passion for you (me)! Yes personalizing Isaiah 53 can be painful to see the reality of my sin being the cause of Christ’s suffering; however, it also can be joyously uplifting and the impetuous of praising Him because I see afresh the depth and richness of his love for me.

Why To Hope In God’s Word

“But you are near, O LORD, and all your commandments are true. Long have I known from your testimonies that you have founded them forever. (Psalm 119:151-152).

In this passage of Psalm 119, that begins with verse 145, the Psalmist is calling on God to save him from the oppression of evil doers. He places his hope completely upon God’s promises and steadfast love (vs 149). The question is, “Why did the Psalmist place his hope in God’s Word?” What is it the Psalmist sees that tells him he can place his hope in God’s Word? The answer comes in the last two verses of this passage.

The Psalmist knows that God’s commandments have been established forever. Since the beginning of time until the farthest reach of eternity God’s Word will stand. It is on this bedrock that the Psalmist builds his hope for deliverance and salvation. All in this world will pass away, but the Psalmist tells us that God’s Word will not pass away, it will last forever. Included in God’s Word that will last forever are His commandments and promises. Notice something very important about the Psalmist’s hope.

The Psalmist hope is built on personal knowledge of God’s Word. The Psalmist is not blindly trusting in some unknown promise or commandments. The Psalmist has built his hope upon God’s Word through personal knowledge of it. Read verse 148, “My eyes are awake before the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promise.” The Psalmist does not just blindly go along hoping in God based on minimal knowledge of the words of others. The Psalmist has personal knowledge of God’s promises and commandments because he reads them himself!

If we wish to have a confident hope like the Psalmist in Psalm 119, then we must be wiling to base our hope upon the same foundation he had. We must place our hope in the eternal nature of God’s Word. We must believe they are eternal and we must have read them for ourselves.

Praying in a Presidential Election Year

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (1 Tim 2:2).

In the second chapter of 1 Timothy Paul gives a serious of instructions pertaining to public worship and gathering of the early church. These instructions follow the admonition of Paul to Timothy in 1:18, “This charge I entrust to you.” Notice that the first charge Paul calls Timothy to carryout is prayer. The context would suggest these were the issues Paul wanted Timothy to address in public prayer, although obviously they would apply to private prayer as well. Given the historical context of Paul’s letter to Timothy, while on his fourth missionary journey after being released from his first Roman imprisonment, Paul’s call for prayer for all people especially kings and those in authority shows his awareness that the attitude of civil authorities could be a blessing or a curse upon the church. So we can clearly see that we are to pray for civil leaders from Paul’s instruction to Timothy. How do we pray for our leaders today?

Our prayers must always be eternally focused, just like Paul’s. Our prayers must first and foremost center upon the saving work of Christ in our individual leaders souls. Nothing is more important than any person entering the Kingdom of God. Nothing is as transforming in the life of a person than a personal relationship with Christ and the regeneration they experience making them a “new creation.” Nothing will transform our civic leaders to do the right thing more than the transforming work of the Holy Spirit in their heart, mind and soul. We should intercede on their behalf for a gracious work in their hearts.

Our supplications to God for our civic leaders should also include the surrounding them with aides that have wise discernment and gifted insights. Martin Luther said, “It is better to be ruled by a competent Muslim than an incompetent Christian.” Not only should we pray that God will give our civic leaders wisdom and insight, but that He would also surround them with equally talented staff.

One of the components of our prayers that is often overlooked is thanksgiving. We should thank God for our leaders. It is easy to make fun of our leaders and deride their decisions. Often they are faced with choices that are not easy and clear to make, especially the President. We should be thankful to God that He has placed them in the office they have. If you believe in the absolute sovereignty of God, that the Bible so clearly teaches, you know that no individual civic leader serves in any office without God having placed him or her there, “For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God” (Rom 13:1). If their decisions appear to be contrary to what we think is right, we know that God will use them and their service for bringing about His glory and ultimate plan for humanity. This is cause for thanksgiving even if their actions are against us.

With a better understanding of Paul’s view of prayer for civic leaders let us commit to biblical model of praying for our leaders and the next President of the United States.

Serving Christ Despite Our Past

“I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent” (1 Tim 1:12-13a). Paul makes a confession to young Timothy, one Timothy already knew, that Paul was not always a believer and disciple of Christ from the beginning. Like most of us in the western world we do not accept Christ as the Messiah, nor as our personal savior, the first time we hear His salvation preached to us. We, like Paul, often place ourselves as enemies of Christ after our first exposure to Him. Granted not everyone has the same level of hostility towards Christ as Paul, but we are still hostile to him, it is just a matter of degrees.

However, one of the blessings in Paul’s life, which is also a blessing in our lives, is that our prior status does not disqualify us for Christ’s service. Despite the fact Paul was one of the most violent opponents of the gospel before his conversion, Paul still became an apostle. An apostle appointed by Christ Himself and chosen as the “instrument of mine (Jesus) to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel” (Acts 9:15b). What an amazing fact! The most violent “blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent” of the fledgling Church of Jesus Christ is given the second greatest position in the early church, the apostle to the Gentiles. It is the man whom oversaw the persecution of Christians and made a career for himself cleansing Judaism of this heresy (Act 9:1-2) that becomes the apostle to the Gentiles. More than that He is the one chosen by Christ Himself to carry Christ’s name before kings also! A privilege not granted to the other apostles, at least not to the degree Paul did.

What does this mean for us? No matter how much of blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent of the Jesus we have been we can still be appointed to His service. We still have a place of service to our Lord. We can never ignore the problems our past bring with us into our service of Christ, especially those areas where we are still prone to fall and disobey God’s Word. Yet, the experiences of our life before salvation are often the very things God uses most to make us useful to His service, both as a testimony of His power and as instruments and means of our service to Him. May God be glorified and His power manifested in our weakness both in our past and present deeds.

The Lord Dealing Bountifully With Us

“I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me” (Psalm 13:6 ESV).

It is good for us to take the time on a regular basis to think about how God has dealt bountifully with us and express our thanks to Him. Just as David in Psalm 13 expresses his praise to God for dealing bountifully with him, so also we should remember when God has been good to us, contemplate God’s goodness to us and thank him for His blessings in our lives.

Set aside a few minutes today and do just this. Even if you are busy take just five minutes to think about God’s goodness to you and thank him for it. It is as simple as making a list of the ways God has dealt bountifully with you. If you are having trouble, think about these specific types of God dealing bountifully with you:
How has God dealt bountifully with you in your family?
How in and through your church?
How about the physical surroundings you are in now?

Some may be tempted to disregard this exercise because they are experiencing difficulty or hardship right now and therefore have very little to thank God for. David did not find difficulty and hardship as justifiable reasons for not thanking God for the way he has dealt with him. If you read the previous five verses of Psalm 13 you will see David was in distress over his current circumstances. Either from an actual enemy or from sickness David was being afflicted and pursed by his enemy with the concern and fear that his enemy would defeat him. Yet despite David’s unpleasant circumstances he still determined that meditating on the ways God had dealt bountifully with him was warranted and despite his circumstances he would sing to the Lord.

David’s example does not only serve to exhort us to be thankful when times are bad, it also reminds us that as difficult and painful as our current circumstances may be we can find ways and see how God has been and is being good to us even in our suffering.

The Importance of Corporate Prayer

“Now while he (Zechariah) was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense” (Luke 1:8-11).

Here in the birth narrative of Jesus Luke gives us the story of the announcement of the birth of John the Baptist by the angel Gabriel to his father Zechariah. Being the excellent historian Luke was he includes little details that appear as background information to the story. We as modern westerners in a fast paced world tend to get impatient with Luke as he tells the story. We often have the attitude, even if we do not verbalize it, “Yea OK, hurry-up and get to the main point!” This attitude is to our shame and detriment in seeing the glory of God and how we should live today.

Imbedded in this narrative Luke gives us are some small details that give us a big picture in how God works and how we should live our lives as Christians today. Tucked away in verse 10 are the words, “And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense” (Luke 1:10). To us the modern reader it seems to not contain much. However, this attitude is because we lack some knowledge Luke assumes his first century readers know.

During the afternoon each day the offer of incense was made as a corporate act of worship by the people as they gathered at the temple. The priest would go into the temple and offer the incense offering on the alter as the people outside were gathered together in corporate prayer. At this point in Jewish history the expectations and hope for the promised Messiah were high. It is during these daily corporate prayers that the people as one body would pray corporately asking God to send the promised Redeemer of Israel.

It was during this period of corporate prayer to Yahweh that the angel Gabriel appeared to announce the birth of the promised messenger that would go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah (Mal 4:5-6; Luke 1:17). The immensity of this fact should not escape us. Gabriel could have come at any time and at any place, but it was during the time when the people were gathered to pray for the promised Messiah to come that the LORD sent Gabriel to announce John’s birth.

Does this historical fact have any relevance to how we live today? I think so, in a very profound way even. If we really want to see a special pouring out of God’s Spirit in our communities and on our churches, we should pray with the same zeal and community the Israelites did. We must pray earnestly in private for God to send His Spirit to open the doors of the gospel to the lost and to pull back the veil that blinds unbelievers from seeing the glory of God and the gospel (2 Cor 4:3-4). However, we must also gather together intentionally as one body to pray corporately for God to send His Spirit and remove the veil. If God would not send His angel to announce the coming of the promised messenger until God’s people were gathered together to pray for Him to send the Messiah, why should we expect God to send His Spirit in a strong and powerful way without our gathering to pray for that outpouring of the Spirit?

Whether it is an upcoming evangelistic event or a general outreach program of our local Church we should make a time of corporate prayer for God to send His Spirit a major and central part of the plan. Corporate prayer should not be an “add-on” feature at the last minute or as perfunctory duty one must perform to look like we are asking God to participate in this work. Corporate prayer must be viewed and practiced as an integral and essential centerpiece of the event planning.

Take this truth, revealed to us by the Spirit, and meditate upon it. If you are involved in an outreach program, as so many churches will do at Christmas, seek God’s guidance in forming a corporate prayer time for your event. At the very least set apart a time with your group conducting the event for a time of earnest and unhurried corporate prayer for God to send His Spirit and work in your event. If you are the leader in your church or a leader of the group conducting an event at your church I plead with you to call a special time of corporate prayer with the whole Church body. The importance of corporate prayer has been lost on modern evangelicals, now is the time for a recovery of the discipline of corporate prayer.

Remembering Where We Came From

“Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (Eph 2:12). The joy of our union with Christ and being fellow heirs with the Jews of the promise is best kept fresh and rich in our minds by remembering where we came from. We must remember everyday that we were once separated from Christ and excluded from the covenant promises. We were without God in this world.

God in his great mercy and love reached out across the chasm of sin and time and touched us with the renewing work of the Holy Spirit, placing in our new hearts a desire and faith in Christ. God circumcised our hearts. We became heirs of the promise by God’s grace and mercy and kindness. We came from lost, blind, dead cold spiritually sinners to living breathing, seeing and knowing the way children of God. Oh how great the Fathers love for us!

The Mystery Given to Paul

“This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (Eph 3:6). Paul was appointed by God to be an apostle to the Gentiles, Acts 9:15, 1 Tim 2:7, Paul’s purpose was to bring the message that gentiles are now fellow heirs with the Jews in salvation and reconciliation to God. Why does Paul call it a mystery?

False teachers were trying to convince the Ephesians that the true knowledge of God was a “mystery” that was only revealed to those with special knowledge. They also degraded Paul as not being a possessor of secret knowledge, the mystery. In Paul’s absence the Ephesians were easily fooled by these false teachers. So when Paul wrote his letter he addressed this challenge to his apostolic authority and revelation from God.

Paul in answering his opponents also went back to the central message of his preaching, a message that gentiles now are reconciled to God through Christ. While the false teachers sought to imprison new believers with a religion of self effort to reach God, Paul strongly called out to the Ephesians that man cannot reach God by his own works and that the work of Christ is the central focus of their faith.

In our day of pluralism and self-help culture Paul’s message could not be more relevant in our time. Once again Scripture shows its timelessness by speaking directly to the heart of our culture’s sickness and disease. You cannot work your way to God and no amount of meditation, intellectual pursuit or moralistic behavior will reconcile you to God. The only hope for salvation and true happiness is faith in the work and person of Christ, the one giving us the promise in his gospel.

God’s Wisdom and Love

“In whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him” (Eph 3:12). In verse 11 Paul makes it clear the person in whom we have faith is Christ Jesus. What is it we have access too? It is the mystery Paul talks about in verse 6, “This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” We have access through Christ just like the Jews do, because Christ reconciled both gentiles and Jews (2:16). Again what do we have access to? We have access to the Father, “For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father” (Eph 2:18).

All through this passage, starting with 2:11 and going through 3:13, Paul is describing what Christ has done and why it is so that both Jews and Gentiles are brought to God and reconciled to him. Even more we are reconciled into one people group (2:14-15)! Paul boldly makes the statement, as biblical truth, that all who are in Christ, by receiving Him in faith, are reconciled to God, whom we have been estranged and at enmity with because of the Law (2:14-17), and we are all one body, one church. This is where Paul’s statement in 3:10 starts to take on real force, “so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” (Eph 3:10). God’s wisdom is made known, to the heavenly beings, by taking the splintered and fractured people groups of the world, the ones who are also estranged from Him because of our sin, and reconciling them to Himself and making them one people through Christ work on the Cross.

The ironic truth in these statements by Paul is that although we can acknowledge them and begin to understand them with our limited human understanding, we cannot truly see how amazing and dumbfounding they are because we do not see God and know God as the heavenly beings see and know God. Just as a fish does not understand what it means to live outside of water, so we do not understand how amazing it is to be sinners, live in this broken flesh and fallen world and then become reconciled to God. We cannot see how amazing this is because we do not know what it is like to see the universe as heavenly beings see the universe. We do not have the experience of life outside of this temporal world to compare our reconciliation to God to, just like the fish does not have an experience of living outside of his aquatic habitat to compare life in the water to. Just as we look at the fish and say, “You poor thing, you have no understanding of the whole world that exist around you because you cannot live outside of your watery home;” so also the heavenly beings look at us and say, “You have no idea how incredible your reconciliation as one people to God is because you cannot live outside of your fallen world.” We will not genuinely grasp the reality of this truth until we are in heaven. We are living the mystery that angels long to gaze into (1 Pet 1:12) and we don’t even know it.

With the limited understanding we have, let us gaze all the more into the Scriptures to see how special God’s love and wisdom are.

A Morsel of Future Glory

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, … to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth” (Eph 1:7, 10b). The purpose of Christ redeeming us was to fulfill God’s plan to unite all things in Christ. Our redemption and being transformed into new creatures is just one part of God’s plan for the world. The ultimate plan is to unite all things, “things in heaven and things upon the earth” in Christ. The phrase “things in heaven and things upon the earth” is Paul's way of saying the whole universe. The angels and beings in heaven, all mankind, all the animals, and all the plants, the whole of creation is to be united in Christ under His Lordship (Rom 8:18-23).

This uniting all things in Christ will not occur until His ultimate glorification at his second coming and the initiation of the new heaven and earth (Rev 21:1). However, we get a foretaste of this future fulfillment here in our union with Christ individually and in our fellowship with believers in our local church. The unity and fellowship we enjoy in our corporate worship and studying the word is just a foretaste of the glory we will enjoy when all things are united in him. So until we can feast at the table in the new heaven and earth, the one with all things united in him, enjoy and drink deep from the sampling you have for you at the weekly assembling of the saints.

The Big picture of Romans 8

“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Rom 8:14). In the beginning of chapter 8 Paul connects back to the end of chapter 7 with “Therefore.” The point of the end of chapter 7 is that he serves the law of God with his mind. Now Paul explains that the way to have the mind obeying the law of God is to live under the direction and control of the Holy Spirit. By living in the Spirit we can keep our mind on the things of life and peace (vs 6). When a person is indwelt with the Spirit, and led by the Spirit, he or she is a child of God (vs 14). Because we are children of God we are “fellow heirs with Christ” (vs 17). Because we are fellow heirs with Christ, we will enjoy the future glory of redeemed bodies (vs 23). However, this is no all Paul has in view. Because we are children of God we cannot be separated from the Father, by anything in the universe (vs 39).

With this big picture of Romans 8 we can now see how Paul is building to the secure and everlasting promise; that we are children of God, if the Spirit dwells in us (vs 9), because we are children of God we will enjoy his glorious complete redemption of us in the future (30). Furthermore nothing can deny us this blessing from God (vs 39).

Seeing the promise we have by being united to Christ, let us resolve and completely carry out the discarding of anything hindering our union with Christ and impeding the complete leading and influencing of the Holy Spirit. We must search our hearts for the sin or prideful attitudes which keep us from being completely united to Christ and/or led by the Spirit. Once we find them we must get rid of them. May God send his Spirit to help us do this.

The Spirit of Life

“For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death” (Rom 8:2). Paul is describing the difference between the law of the Spirit and the law of sin and death, the freedom we have in Christ from the law of sin and death. The law alone leads to sin and death, because it condemns us to judgment. The law of the Spirit of life sets us free, but how?

The Spirit of life is the one that caused Jesus to be conceived in Mary’s womb (Matt 1:18; Luke 1:35). The Holy Spirit becomes the Spirit of life, because he hovers over the darkness of our souls, which are “dead in our trespasses,” (Eph 2:5a) and creates life where no life existed, just as he did in Genesis 1 at creation. Thus we are “made us alive together with Christ” (Eph 2:5b).

It was the Spirit of life that enabled Jesus to live a perfect life in obedience to every command of God the Father. This same Spirit of life is the one that indwells each of us as believers in Christ. Because we have the same Spirit as Jesus had when he walked on this earth, we can walk in obedience to God the Father. This is because of the renewing, transforming work the Holy Spirit does at regeneration, and faith and continues in our sanctification today.

While we will never be able to walk perfectly in obedience as Jesus did on this earth, we are able to walk in obedience sometimes. Before the Spirit of life recreated life in our hearts, souls and minds, we were completely incapable of walking in obedience at anytime. Now we have the capacity to walk in obedience some of the time by living under the influence and directing of the Holy Spirit in our daily living “who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Rom 8:4b).

Living according to the Spirit requires us to have a transformed nature. It is the same Spirit that gave us life, which also transforms us so that we may think not like someone who walks according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. The result of this transformation is that out minds and our emotions become focused on the very things God would have us think on and feel. “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit” (Rom 8:5).

Therefore, with this understanding of the change that must take place within us and the required work of the Holy Spirit to accomplish this work, let us seek and pray for the transforming work of the Spirit by praying earnestly and with deep feeling for God to so order it.

Answering by the Spirit

“"If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you (John 15:18) . . . When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth,” (John 16:13a). The Holy Spirit is a part of God’s provision for when the world persecutes us, because, one of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to give us the answers to those who persecute us. Whether it is a martyr facing Islamic militants or a Bible Study leader confronted with a self-righteous student adhering to false teaching. We can and we must rely on the Holy Spirit to give us the answers to our persecutors. We must rely on the Holy Spirit for the right answers because only the Holy Spirit has the responses that God wants the sinner to hear. In our human wisdom and reasoning we will focus on the wrong “point” the rebel needs to hear. We think in our human reasoning the rebel needs to hear this or that; however, what God wants them to hear is probably a different word, the one that will convict them and lead them to see the truth. Only God knows what word they need to hear and what word He wants them to hear. We will only know what that word is by allowing the Holy Spirit to give us the response we are to give them.

Some of the Work of the Holy Spirit

"But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me” (John 15:26). Unless the Holy Spirit bear witness to us of Jesus as our LORD, our redeemer and the Son of God we will never see Jesus as anything more than a good teacher. We are dependant upon the Holy Spirit to see Jesus as our savior and to confess him as our savior. Afterwards we are still dependent upon the Holy Spirit to witness to us the glorious beauty of Christ and the majesty of God the Father. Our veiled eyes are ever darkened to the glorious light shining from God the Father and Christ Jesus our savior. Just as sanctification is a process of continuing growth in holiness, so the work of the Holy Spirit continues not just in our sanctification but in witnessing to us the glory of Jesus. Just as the Holy Spirit illumines our minds to the word of truth (1 Cor 1:10) and quickens our hearts to believe on the Lord Jesus (Eph 2:1-5), so also the Spirit illumines our minds to the wonder, the majesty, the beauty, the glories and the joys of our sweet precious Jesus.

Therefore let us all recognize that absences of these revelations in our lives about the nature of Christ are evidence of the Spirit’s inactivity in our hearts, minds and souls (Psa 84:11). Once we recognize the Spirit is inactive in our hearts we must throw ourselves at the mercy seat of heaven and beg for the Spirit’s return. The Spirit’s return will be predicated upon repentance from sin, either known or unknown, that has caused God the Father to withdraw the Holy Spirit from us.

Even this recognition that we are no longer in fellowship with the Father as we have been is a working of the Spirit so that we can be restored in our fellowship. Once we recognize that our awareness of the Spirit’s absence is a work of the Spirit itself, we can confidently and with assurance throw ourselves at the mercy seat of heaven, because the working of the Spirit to make us aware of His absence is the evidence God desires to have us come to him and be restored in fellowship with him. Knowing all this, when we recognize the Spirit is inactive in our lives, let us not hesitate one second to run to the Cross and ask that God lay our sins before us so we can confess them and repent of them. While we are running to the Cross, let us also do so with the confident assurance that God desires that we be reconciled to him and the Holy Spirit restored to us fully again.

Living Life

“For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing” (Luke 12:23). This seems like an odd statement. What kind of life do we have if we do not have food and clothing? Almost all of our working life is spent trying to provide food and clothing for our family. In the time which Jesus was on this earth food and clothing, daily needs, consumed almost everyone’s whole day. For Jesus to say something like this he must be crazy, out of touch with reality or know something we don’t. Once again we see the words of Scripture, God’s words, pointing us to a reality which is foreign to our way of thinking; life on this earth is not what life is all about. Jesus is describing a view of life with an eternal perspective, not the temporal one we normally operate with.

Many will read this verse and see Jesus describing a way of living on this earth, an attitude, in which material possessions are not the main focus of life, but the joy of living in harmony with one’s neighbors and with nature. However, even this view of Jesus intended meaning is linked to the temporal not the eternal perspective. It is a view still concerned with life on this earth. Because Jesus links this passage to the rich fool (12:13-21), he is clearly pointing us to view the way we live this life on earth with how it will affect life in eternity. While there is no single verse or passage that says this, we can glean Jesus’ intention by viewing all he is saying in the gospels and the NT. Life is more than food and the body more than clothing. Life is living out your called purpose to do the will of God for your life, so that you may enter into his kingdom after this life is over (Matt 25:14-30, John 4:34). The body is more than clothing because it is a reflection of the glory of God, by being made in his image and the temple of the Holy Spirit (John 2:19-21, 1 Cor 6:19).

Having grasped this truth about our lives and our bodies, let us live with a view of eternity in mind. Let our actions, our plans for each day and our lives as a whole be guided by the will of God for our service to him here and reflecting his glory into the world we live in.